Explore The NRA Universe Of Websites

APPEARS IN News

Taxpayer-Funded Advocacy

Monday, August 16, 2021

Taxpayer-Funded Advocacy

They say tigers don’t change their stripes. The same may be true for public health officials. In 1994, the then- Director of the National Center for Injury Prevention and Control arrogantly betrayed the extent of the gun control agenda. He’s back, and he’s done it again.

Doctor Mark Rosenberg told the Washington Post in 1994 that guns needed to be just like cigarettes: “dirty, deadly, and banned.” His comments in that article, and the nakedly prejudiced “research” the CDC had funded, led to both his involuntary exit from the CDC and the Dickey Amendment. Neither stopped the publication of gun control research.

Congress authorized federal funding for “gun violence” research in 2019 and President Joe Biden has proposed doubling the appropriation to $50 million dollars for fiscal year 2022. The initial funding and the promise of even more has been celebrated by gun control researchers. The Journal of the American Medical Association ran what seemed initially to be a puff piece about funding and gun researchers “making up for lost time” that included comments from many prominent researchers.

Researchers like Doctor Garen Wintemute, who has been conducting firearms-related research since at least 1987 and has continued publishing since the Dickey Amendment. Wintemute now runs the Violence Prevention Research Program at UC Davis, which is funded by the state of California and provides grants to researchers. Wintemute has also spent more than a million dollars of his own money funding his gun control research.

Doctor Megan Ranney of Brown University was also quoted. Ranney published her first firearm-related research paper in 2006, shortly after she completed medical school, and has similarly not been stymied by the Dickey Amendment. Ranney is the Chief Research Officer of the American Foundation for Firearm Injury Reduction in Medicine, an organization that provides research grants. She received just under $650,000 from the CDC for the first year of a three-year project.

Ranney told JAMA that, “We have been stuck in this debate between gun rights and gun control for too long and it has stopped us from making progress.” Ranney helped popularize the “This is Our Lane” hashtag after NRA rebuffed the American College of Physicians for citing inconclusive research and unfounded opinions as evidence for policymaking.

Now, after reinforcing the baseless calls for gun control from the medical community, Ranney wants to be impartial. Or does she? We may be misinterpreting her comments regarding “the debate” in this article given her antagonistic positioning. There is no such doubt concerning the objective of Doctor Mark Rosenberg. Rosenberg remained in the public health field after the CDC fired him and is now on the Board of Directors of the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation. Readers are likely familiar with the Hilton name and are likely aware of the exorbitant wealth behind it.

Readers may not know that the Hilton Foundation is one of several funders bankrolling the National Collaborative on Gun Violence Research, which aims to fund “rigorous research designed to broaden agreement on the facts associated with gun policy” and is led by Doctor Andrew Morral of the Rand Corporation.

Morral also led Rand’s review of firearms-related research published between 1999 and 2018. Rand screened 12,916 published academic papers to identify those which met its reasonable methodological requirements.

That would be nearly thirteen-thousand papers published after the Dickey Amendment was enacted. 

Rand – unsurprisingly – found no evidence that the most desired gun control laws were effective. This does not sit well with Rosenberg.

Nearly thirty years ago, Rosenberg wanted to use the CDC and research as a cudgel to destroy gun rights. Now, he says Rand’s conclusions are “a stunning indictment of our ignorance and highlights the failure of this country to do the research.”

Wintemute, Ranney, and a large number of other researchers have literally done the research. Rosenberg, and gun control zealots like him, just don’t like the results.

Rosenberg has been quoted in numerous articles supporting new federal funding for gun control research, and he sits on the Board of Directors of a multi-billion-dollar foundation that provides research funding. He’s now denounced the body of existing research based on the findings while still attempting to claim the mantle of “science.”

This is the man who once ran federal gun control research and the “expert” to whom the press turns for comments. Tens of thousands of pages of gun control research have been published, with more research in progress, without federal funding. Among those advocating for federal funding are those who run organizations that themselves provide research funding.

Make no mistake: this is not, and has never been, about finding evidence-based solutions to reduce violence or suicide.

This is about promoting gun control with the authority of the federal government of the United States.

Mark Rosenberg wants another bite at the apple.

It’s up to NRA members to ensure that he doesn’t get it – just like in 1994. 

TRENDING NOW
U.S. Senate Adds Pro-Gun Tax Relief Language Back into Reconciliation Bill

News  

Saturday, June 28, 2025

U.S. Senate Adds Pro-Gun Tax Relief Language Back into Reconciliation Bill

Overnight, the U.S. Senate added pro-gun tax relief language back into the Reconciliation bill after the Senate Parliamentarian struck out an earlier provision.  While this new provision is not as expansive as the language we advocated for which ...

One Big Beautiful Bill Clears Senate, and Heads Back to House

News  

Tuesday, July 1, 2025

One Big Beautiful Bill Clears Senate, and Heads Back to House

Earlier today the U.S. Senate passed the “One Big Beautiful Bill.” This bill contained a provision that would, among other things, eliminate the burdensome $200 excise tax imposed by federal law on suppressors, short-barreled firearms, and “any ...

U.S. House Passes Reconciliation Bill, Removing Suppressors from the National Firearms Act

News  

Second Amendment  

Thursday, May 22, 2025

U.S. House Passes Reconciliation Bill, Removing Suppressors from the National Firearms Act

Earlier today, the U.S. House of Representatives passed H.R.1 the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which included Section 2 of the Hearing Protection Act, completely removing suppressors from the National Firearms Act (NFA).

U.S. Senate Forced to Remove Pro-Gun Language from Reconciliation Bill

News  

Friday, June 27, 2025

U.S. Senate Forced to Remove Pro-Gun Language from Reconciliation Bill

Today, the U.S. Senate was forced to remove the pro-gun language that had been previously included in the Reconciliation Bill currently making its way through the chamber. We explained in a previous article that this language would, ...

Armed Churchgoers Prevent Mass Attack as State Lawmakers Plot More Gun Control

News  

Monday, June 30, 2025

Armed Churchgoers Prevent Mass Attack as State Lawmakers Plot More Gun Control

Just over an hour away from the state capitol in Lansing, Michigan – even as lawmakers worked feverishly to pass various gun control measures, including expansion of “gun free” zones – a chilling reminder unfolded of the ...

Urge the U.S. Senate to Pass the One Big Beautiful Bill – Contact Your U.S. Senators Today!

News  

Monday, June 30, 2025

Urge the U.S. Senate to Pass the One Big Beautiful Bill – Contact Your U.S. Senators Today!

The U.S. Senate has cleared a number of procedural hurdles and is preparing to vote on the One Big Beautiful Bill. This vote will likely come within the next day. The One Big Beautiful Bill includes ...

Canada’s Big Ugly Gun Grab: An Update

News  

Monday, June 30, 2025

Canada’s Big Ugly Gun Grab: An Update

Canada’s Liberal government is pressing on with its harebrained gun ban and confiscation program for “assault style weapons,” but, true to form and precedents, it has been far from smooth sailing.

North Carolina: Update on Gun Bills Moving through the General Assembly

Tuesday, June 24, 2025

North Carolina: Update on Gun Bills Moving through the General Assembly

Recently, House Bill 193 (H193) was reported favorably out of both the Senate Judiciary Committee and the Senate Rules Committee, with amendments.

U.S. Court of Appeals Backtracks on Adverse Suppressor Ruling

News  

Monday, June 23, 2025

U.S. Court of Appeals Backtracks on Adverse Suppressor Ruling

In a single sentence, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit added to the high-profile and consequential national conversation on firearm suppressors.

Argentina President Milei Continues to Make Improvements to Country’s Gun Laws

News  

Monday, June 30, 2025

Argentina President Milei Continues to Make Improvements to Country’s Gun Laws

We’ve reported before about Argentina President Javier Milei expanding access to firearms for law-abiding Argentinians.

MORE TRENDING +
LESS TRENDING -

More Like This From Around The NRA

NRA ILA

Established in 1975, the Institute for Legislative Action (ILA) is the "lobbying" arm of the National Rifle Association of America. ILA is responsible for preserving the right of all law-abiding individuals in the legislative, political, and legal arenas, to purchase, possess and use firearms for legitimate purposes as guaranteed by the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.